Patriots cut Marcus Benard

Defensive lineman Marcus Benard had 11 sacks in 2009 and 2010 for the Browns, but a motorcycle crash in October 2011 knocked his career off track.

He won’t be finding it again in New England. A league source tells PFT that Benard will be one of the players cut by the Patriots as New England makes its way down to 53 players by Saturday afternoon’s deadline.

Benard was waived by the Browns at the end of the preseason in 2012, but didn’t play a game for them after the motorcycle accident the previous year. He signed a future contract with New England in January, but wasn’t able to rediscover enough of his old pass rushing chops to carve out a spot on the team’s season-opening roster.

With the previously reported cuts of tight ends Daniel Fells and Jake Ballard, the Patriots are down to 72 players. That leaves 19 more moves to make before the Patriots will have their initial, but by no means final, 53-man roster of the 2013 season.